One of Mike Shildt’s operating principles since he took over from Mike Matheny a few weeks ago is to fix the things that need fixing and, if it ain’t broke… well, you know the rest.

The leadoff batter in Shildt’s lineup certainly isn’t broken.

Matt Carpenter has been hotter than the jalapeño-fueled salsa he has been dutifully toting to the ballpark the past month or so, shooting out of a six-week season-opening funk to near the top of the National League leaderboards in the key categories.

Carpenter leads the Cardinals in pretty much everything other than batting average: OBP (.388), slugging (.572), OPS+ (158). We could go on.

On Tuesday night, he broke Hall of Famer Lou Brock’s St. Louis Cardinals record for home runs to lead off a game with his 22nd. Though the mark was largely overshadowed by other events, including the trade of center fielder Tommy Pham to Tampa Bay earlier in the day, that is a big deal within 300 miles of Busch...